All Forum Posts by: Simon Lloyd

Welcome / bienvenue to BiggerPockets @Cristian Petrescu! You'll find beaucoup de good information here on the forums / blogs / podcasts for sure. There are a good number of fellow Canadians too; @Roy N. is especially knowledgeable and can be a great resource for your technical inquiries, even in QC because, as he mentions, he has some experience there and your province can be different in areas of taxation and law than the rest of North America.

Replacing your previous job income in such a short time is a tall order for real estate investing so best of luck to you! Please keep us posted of your progress! If I can be any assistance feel free to message me.

@Dominika M and @Roy N. I've heard (anecdotally) that an LLC is often not worthwhile for Canadians to set up for their US real estate investments. This is because two widely believed reasons for investors to do so are actually not true: 1) avoids the 30% IRS withholding tax--this still applies if you ever want to take money out of the United States at any point even through an LLC, and 2) limits litigious exposure. Basically if a court in any given US state wants to find someone accountable for a lawsuit, an LLC offers very little protection these days to the owner. My focus isn't US investment just yet so I haven't researched the LLC option but I've spoken to Canadians currently investing in the States.

Welcome to BP, @Victor Parag!

@Roy N. we know you will be there in spirit! Certainly if we do a Skype meeting you would attend? Do you Newfies have Skype yet? ;) lol--I do it just to bug you Roy!

@Belinda D. a quick overview: Property is a power of sale (to non-Ontario folks that's what we call foreclosures or REOs). Purchase price was $142,500 and ARV will be about $220,000, hopefully even $225 or $229k. It's a detached split-level single family 3bd / 1.5 (will be 2)bath on a large lot in a nice subdivision-type street of a small town. It needs some pretty major work--namely there's mold in the basement that needs remediation and it requires a gas furnace be installed. I hope there's sufficient spread in there to eek out a small profit, it won't be a blockbuster deal by any means but I just want to get my feet wet and finally do some flipping!! Even if I end up breakeven at the end I hope to learn enough doing it that it will make it all worthwhile--I'll consider my time invested to be the cost of tuition to the REI game, as many BPers have coined.

@Dominika M after Christmas would work best for me too.

@Belinda D. Skype would definitely be more convenient but also much less personal imo, but I'll leave it up to others to decide. My suggestion would be somewhere in Vaughan, it's pretty much the midpoint of the GTA---so equally INconvenient for everyone! ;) There are lots of great coffee shops there as well, or I know of some meeting rooms we could book if we want to go that direction.

@Brandon Turner might have some suggestions of what style / format of BP meetups best work!?

On another note, I just purchased my first flip property! It's located in the town of New Lowell, ON which is just NW of Barrie. It closes on Dec 16. Needs a lot of work but I got a great deal I believe so I'll keep you all posted on my progress!

Also @Dominika M, thank you for the link to the report "Top Ontario Investment Towns 2013-2018" above...I'll be reading it for sure!

@Dominika M I saw it!! :)

We should definitely do a GTA meetup! Any suggestions for a location / venue? Maybe we could do something over the Holidays?

Welcome to BP @Account Closed !

I'm a fellow GTA'er and have realized in my REI adventures so far that @Roy N. is quite correct that towns even a good piece outside the GTA such as Barrie (where I grew up, incidentally!) are now overpriced for investors due to their proximity to Toronto. There are still good deals elsewhere in Ontario with decent cap rates but they are fully outside the GTA. The Ontario markets I've been considering lately are Windsor, Niagara Region and Sudbury. Of course there are even better deals to be had down in the US but as Canadians we have to be cautious purchasing in the US---there are tax implications of course plus visiting or especially working on US properties as a Canadian can bring trouble...you can't even cut your own grass or change a lightbulb unless you want the IRS and Immigration on your tail! But many fellow BP'ers such as @Marco Santarelli and @Ali Boone can help you with fully managed turn-key US investments if that's what you're looking for so you're certainly in the right place!!

Please keep in touch! I'd love to have a BP GTA meetup in the future if you and others are game!

That's a shame Roy!! Incredibly poor timing on that tenant's part and a good dollop bad luck. Made for a lot of scrambling for you and I'm sure a night or two of little to no sleep!

It is quite disgusting that the bank can call in the loan and still charge you the penalty...did you investigate the legalities of that? Seems like there should be some borrower protection to prevent it or why wouldn't the banks make it more common practice??

Welcome to BP Matt! So great to hear you're so passionate. As a fellow Canadian I can assure you that there is lots of great information and many amazing people in the BP community to help get you started, and although the majority is US-based much of it is still applicable to us Canucks / Quebeckers! The next time I'm in Mtl I'll certainly contact you, hopefully we can rendez-vous!